Title: A longitudinal study of birth, death and survival rate of micro-companies in the European Union

Authors: Fernando Almeida

Addresses: Faculty of Engineering, Oporto University, INESC TEC, Porto, Portugal

Abstract: Micro-companies play an extremely important role in the economy being the main driver of economic growth. They contribute decisively for employability, business innovation and in reducing social asymmetries. This role of micro-companies in particular and, small and medium enterprises in general, is widely recognised in the literature. Nevertheless, the number of longitudinal studies that explicitly address the contribution of micro-companies to the European economy is reduced, and most of them are essentially reports produced by European and national agencies that analyse the importance of this phenomenon in their economies. This study intends to characterise the birth, death and survival rate of micro-companies in the European Union. The study adopts a quantitative and statistical approach in data analysis between 2008 and 2016, which allows us to characterise the evolution of these indicators and to understand which countries have the best and the worst performances.

Keywords: micro-companies; small and medium enterprises; economic performance; European Union; European economy.

DOI: 10.1504/EJIM.2024.135212

European Journal of International Management, 2024 Vol.22 No.1, pp.145 - 164

Received: 21 Dec 2018
Accepted: 12 Sep 2019
Published online: 03 Dec 2023 *

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